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‘Should Be Looked At’: Trump Again Speaks Against Mandates for Childhood Diseases Vaccines

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President-elect Donald Trump, in a wide-ranging press conference from Mar-a-Lago on Monday, declared he doesn’t like vaccine mandates for childhood diseases, blamed Democrats for them, and appeared to be unaware that every state in the nation has childhood vaccine mandates that include many if not most or all of the CDC’s recommended vaccination schedule of 15 immunizations from birth to age 16. These vaccines protect children and the general population from serious and often contagious and deadly diseases, including polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, seasonal flu, and COVID-19.

While declaring he supports the polio vaccine, Trump appeared to veer off into discussing school closings when asked about childhood vaccine mandates, which first started in the United States in 1855.

Responding to a reporter, Trump declared he is “a big believer” in the polio vaccine, but cautioned, “I think everything should be looked at.”

Asked, “Do you think schools should mandate vaccines?” Trump replied, “I don’t like mandates.”

READ MORE: ‘Trump ’28, Come on, Man!’: Bannon Calls for Third Term

“I’m not a big mandate person, so, you know, I was against mandates, uh, mostly Democrat governors did the mandates and, uh, they they did a very poor thing. It was, you know, in retrospect, they made a big mistake. Uh, having to do with the education of children. You know, they lost like a year or two years of their lives. The mandate was a bad thing. I was against the mandate.”

Trump, on the campaign trail, repeatedly stated he would defund any school that requires childhood vaccines.

“I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” he said in June, PBS reported at the time.

He repeated the exact same line in August:


Trump fielded several other questions about vaccines on Monday, in the wake of his controversial remarks to TIME magazine in an interview published last week.

Asked point-blank if he believes “there’s a connection between vaccines and autism?” Trump did not answer the question directly, claiming there are “some very brilliant people looking at it.” Numerous studies have debunked the false belief, which Trump has repeatedly promoted over the years.

NBC News/MSNBC’s Garrett Haake asked Trump about his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “Robert Kennedy? He’s on the Hill today. He’s meeting with senators. What do you say to people who are worried that his views on vaccines will translate into policies that’ll make their kids less safe?”

READ MORE: ‘Inconvenient’: Trump Wants to Kill Daylight Saving Time

Trump, appearing to side with RFK Jr.’s stated yet false claim there are no vaccines that are safe and effective, also appeared to say there are nations that have a lower infectious disease rate than the U.S. and do not use vaccines, which is false.

“No,” Trump replied, “I think he’s gonna be much less radical than you would think. I think he’s got a very open mind, or I wouldn’t have put him there. He’s gonna be very much less radical. But there are problems. I mean, we don’t do as well as a lot of other nations, and those nations use nothing. And uh we’re gonna find out what those problems are.”

Last week, saying he—and not the infectious disease scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—would be the one to decide, in consultation with anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which vaccines the federal government should cut, Trump had again invoked the false and widely debunked conspiracy theory that links autism to the life-saving drugs. The President-elect’s remarks were met with concern and condemnation.

There had not been, and is not, any indication from CDC that any key vaccines currently on its schedule should be removed, with the exception of  certain “products [that] are no longer distributed or recommended for use in children and adolescents in the United States.” ACIP, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and not the White House or the Secretary of Health and Human Services, makes recommendations to any changes to the childhood vaccine schedule annually. CDC approves changes, this year for example, in coordination with six major medical organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to the CDC.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Wants a Global Stage’: Trump’s ‘Power Move’ Fizzles as China’s Xi Blows Off Inauguration

 

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‘He Was the Only One’: Trump Mocked for Declaring Iran’s Moves ‘Shocked’ Him

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March 16, 2026

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President Donald Trump is facing criticism and mockery after admitting he was “shocked” that Iran fought back against Operation Epic Fury.

“Trump just admitted publicly that his administration underestimated the Iranian response to his attack,” The Washington Post’s Josh Rogin reported.

During a meeting of the board governing the Kennedy Center, Trump said, “look what happened. In the last two weeks, they weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

Focusing on Trump’s “shocked” remark, some critics blasted the president, once again, for what many have previously said is a Commander-in-Chief who was unprepared to go to war against Iran.

The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser called Trump’s comments a “Remarkable admission.”

READ MORE: ‘Lazy and Unstrategic’: GOP Senator Slams ‘Republican on Republican Violence’

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Justin Amash declared, “We are governed by complete morons.”

Podcaster Clint Russell noted, “Just FYI, this is the EXACT reason our generals have consistently advised against a war with Iran. Even Charlie Kirk had laid this all out on his show a couple years ago. Iran was no threat to America but they were fully capable of destroying the global economy by striking oil facilities and transit throughout the region.”

Robert Manning, a Distinguished Fellow in Global Foresight at the nonpartisan Stimson Center, wrote: “If so, he was the only one surprised. Strategic planners have war games this for 40 years. Hard to believe JCS [Joint Chiefs of Staff] didn’t advise Trump this was likely.”

“I’m pretty confident every war plan US has ever done in last 30 years gaming out this conflict was based on expectation that Iran could in fact [and] would in fact do this,” noted The Nation’s Jeet Heer.

“Every institution built to prevent exactly this outcome existed, was bypassed, and we are now watching the president express shock at conclusions that were already written in the classified assessments he didn’t read,” observed Christine Villaverde, the chairwoman of Anchoring Democracy.

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

 

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‘Lazy and Unstrategic’: GOP Senator Slams ‘Republican on Republican Violence’

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12 hours ago

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March 16, 2026

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A prominent Republican senator is denouncing his own party while lamenting the lack of an official presidential endorsement in the highly contentious Texas Republican Senate runoff election.

Agreeing that it is a mistake for President Donald Trump to withhold his endorsement of either Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or U.S. Senator John Cornyn, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) warned, “I think the more time we spend millions of dollars with Republican-on-Republican violence, Democrats are in the marketing department, loving the idea of a competitive runoff.”

“I get tired of Republicans being lazy and unstrategic,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju, appearing to suggest there are other ways for one of the candidates to pull ahead.

“People on my side of the aisle, and people at the far right of the political spectrum, are trying to swing for the fences, and they’re not gonna succeed,” he warned.

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

A runoff election between Cornyn and Paxton will take place on May 26, and the president has yet to endorse either contender.

Reports suggest a Cornyn endorsement is more likely, although Paxton has been a reliable MAGA supporter. Trump has even suggested that whichever candidate does not get his backing should quit the race entirely, clearing the way for the presumptive nominee to battle the Democratic nominee, James Talarico.

“The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, on March 4, “cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively!”

He vowed to make his endorsement “soon,” but has yet to do so.

Each passing day gives Talarico more time to campaign and build his war chest as the two GOP contenders spend their time and money battling each other.

READ MORE: Gas Prices Near $4 in These Five States

 

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Gas Prices Near $4 in These Five States

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16 hours ago

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March 16, 2026

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Gas prices are continuing to substantially increase, with five states now hovering near $4 a gallon and several others seeing sharp increases as President Donald Trump’s war in Iran enters its 17th day.

“Big gas price hikes just now starting to happen in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri today, which will likely push the national average to $3.75-$3.80 by mid-week,” reports Patrick De Haan, the head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy.

But, he also notes that Michigan and the Chicago area are already seeing $3.99 per gallon as of Monday. Indiana drivers are seeing $3.89, and Ohio and Kentucky are seeing $3.79 per gallon.

De Haan directly attributes the increases to the summer gasoline changeover and the ongoing Iran situation.

“The national average is up 80.0 cents from a month ago and is 66.1 cents per gallon higher than a year ago,” WANE reports, citing GasBuddy’s data.

Drivers should not expect to see prices come down significantly anytime soon.

“Until we see a meaningful resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, upward pressure on fuel prices is likely to persist,” De Haan said. “At the same time, seasonal forces are beginning to intensify as several regions complete the transition to summer gasoline, creating a double headwind that could continue driving pump prices higher in the weeks ahead.”

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

 

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